Dixit Dominus

In 1717 the famous music school Accademia Filharmonica di Bologna, for the celebration of their patronal feast, invited Vivaldi to write a liturgical work, and he had to choose between the Dixit Dominus and the Magnificat. There is evidence that he did not accept the commission at the time. But he did write Dixit Dominus (The Lord said...) on the text of Psalm 110 and in three versions - RV 594, 595 and 807. Presumably this was after 1720. In his chronicles of 1720, the English traveller Edward Wright recorded the following: 'Here it is quite normal to see priests in the orchestras, and above all and most celebrated for his concerts is the celebrated Vivaldi, whom they call "the ginger priest". Some chronicles reveal another, eccentric side of Vivaldi's character and work. The latter 'fantasised' that he had 94 operas when he had written 'only' 50. It was said that he showed a commercial flair when he had to work on commission, or that he deliberately reworked his instrumental concertos for greater speed and productivity. All three Dixit Dominus opuses are written in D major, a key with a certain semantics of enlightenment. In the Venetian state archives, the names of the soloists inscribed in the original scores are found. They performed not only the female but also the male parts - usually tenor. The manuscripts were discovered at different times and their identification as Vivaldi's works was also lengthy and not sufficiently definite. Dixit Dominus RV 594 has been catalogued in 10 movements for five soloists, double chorus and orchestra; Dixit Dominus RV 595 in 11 movements for five soloists, chorus and orchestra, and Dixit Dominus RV 807 has recently been discovered, also in 11 movements, for five soloists, chorus and orchestra. It is considered one of his "most significant sacred works". In Dixit Dominus RV 594, eight of the 10 parts are on the text of the psalm and two are on prayerful address to God (doxology). The addition of oboes and trumpets to the orchestra confirms one of the composer's merits - the introduction of wind instruments into the orchestra, which were then perceived as instruments of military brass music only. Dixit Dominus RV 595, also in D major, consists of 8 verses on Psalm 110 and three on the prayer invocation. In a musical sense the last verses are given the function of a recapitulation, a summary, a unification of the work. The opus was later discovered and catalogued. Last in attesting Vivaldi's authorship is Dixit Dominus RV 807. It was only in 2005 that it was identified as a Vivaldi work, and until then it had been attributed to Baldassare Galuppi. The manuscript from the Saxon State and University Library in Dresden (Sächsische Staatsbibliothek) is entitled Dixit a 4: construmenti / del Sig: Baldasar Galuppi, detto Buranello / Fatto per l'Ospedale delli Mendicanti / 1745. The work is also in D major - for sopranos, alto, two tenors, chorus and orchestra. Vivaldi again includes wind instruments - this time two bassoons and trumpet. Psalm 110 (or 109 in the Roman Catholic Bible) in the composer's time was the first of the psalms to be read or sung in the evening service called Vespers, the most common service after Mass. The psalm celebrates God's promise of victory over enemies, the victory of good over evil. "My Lord" in the Christian interpretation is a reference to the Messiah, and so the psalm can be understood as a spiritual exultation of the promised triumph. Dixit Dominus has also been set to music by many composers (including Monteverdi and Mozart) as part of the overall staging of the service, and sometimes as a stand-alone work.